Page 75 of The Storm
The conversation was over. It was the longest one they’d ever had.
* * *
Max spentall day in the woods, walking old paths, surrounded by the sights and scents of childhood. He didn’t find anything malevolent. He didn’t find anything at all except an unexpected sense of peace.
It hadn’t been all bad.
Memories washed through him as he wandered in the woods. Memories of long summers and warm fires in the winter. Catching fish and shooting arrows. Though they’d never had love or affection growing up, Max had always felt safe. And he had Leo. Leo loved him. Leo was his brighter, happier half. Leo wasn’t an orphan like Max. Or at least not technically.
Max was surprised by how light his heart felt when he walked to the water. He saw Leo in the distance, sitting on the same rise where he and Renata had watched the ocean the first day they arrived.
He sat down next to his cousin and mirrored Leo, legs propped up and arms wrapped loosely around his knees. His cousin was staring at the ocean. The tide was coming in, teasing the shorebirds with spray and scattering the gulls that hopped around the rocks.
“Kyra is with child,” Leo said into the wind.
“I know.”
“I suspected you did.”
“Everything is well?”
“Yes. She’s very healthy. She spoke to Orsala in Cappadocia and a human doctor in Istanbul. She’s gaining weight, but she needed to. The doctor said she was too thin.”
“Good.”
They stared in silence at the waves for a few minutes. “Orsala said that mixed Irin and Grigori couples are more likely to have children,” Leo said. “That’s why—”
“Ava and Malachi were surprised by the twins?”
“Yes.”
Max said, “So was this a surprise?”
“Yes.”
He threw his arm around Leo. “Blessings on you and your mate, brother. I would rejoice in any of my brothers expecting a child, but yours is a double blessing. A triple one. I am so happy for you.”
Leo turned to Max, and his eyes were shining. “Will you write your blessing and ward on the baby when it comes? I know your father’s blessing lies on me. And my father’s on you. We’re only cousins—”
“We’re brothers,” Max said. “And I will protect your child as I would my own. I will write my ward on the baby, Leo. And I’ll love him. Or her. Maybe you’ll get lucky like Malachi and get one of each.”
Leo finally smiled. “There is only one heartbeat. I can hear it.”
The quiet joy on his brother’s face soothed Max’s heart. “Can you?”
Leo nodded. “Sometimes at night I wake up and… I’m afraid. But the past few weeks, I’ve been able to hear the heartbeat if I focus. It lets me sleep again.”
“That’s good.”
“And Kyra amazes me. She is so calm. She called her brother last week, and she said Kostas was crying over the phone. Happiness. He no longer wants to kill me most days.”
“Greeks are more emotional than we stoic Baltic men.” Max nudged his shoulder. “It’s better, I think, to be like that.”
Leo nodded. “I told my father.”
“What did he say?” Max paused. “Wrong question. Did he say anything at all?”
“He did.” Leo glanced over his shoulder toward the farm in the distance. “He was afraid for us. Worried about Kyra’s safety. I think I might finally… not understand him. Or maybe I understand him a little. And maybe that’s all I need.”
